The Council Tax charge comprises elements for East Sussex County Council, East Sussex Fire Authority, Sussex Police Authority as well as Eastbourne Borough Council.

Read on to discover the total charge for bands A to H …

The bands and amounts are as follows:

[Band] – [Property Value] – [Council Tax Due]

* A – 40k – £1,068.51
* B – 52k – £1,246.60
* C – 68k – £1,424.68
* D – 88k – £1,602.77
* E – 120k – £1,958.94
* F – 160k – £2,315.11
* G – 320k – £2,671.28
* H – > 320k – £3,205.54

Note that [Property Value]is based on the property value when the Council Tax was first introduced in 1991.

Check out his video:

I’ve known Clive for many years and whole-heartedly recommend him and his services.

Visit his Sovereign Financial Planning website.

The Council Tax charge comprises elements for East Sussex County Council, East Sussex Fire Authority, Sussex Police Authority as well as Eastbourne Borough Council.

Read on to discover the total charge for bands A to H …

The bands and amounts are as follows:

[Band] – [Property Value] – [Council Tax Due]

* A -    40k – £1,040.77
* B -    52k – £1,214.23
* C -    68k – £1,387.68
* D -    88k – £1,561.15
* E -   120k – £1,908.07
* F -   160k – £2,255.00
* G -   320k – £2,601.92
* H – > 320k – £3,122.30

With a lot more Russians moving to the harbour the rumour mill has been going into overdrive about every mega-rich oil baron and his comrade.

Apparently this vessel was too big to fit into the marina so it moored where the tide wouldn’t cause it to run aground, unlike the sailboat in my earlier post this month ;-)

The Council Tax charge comprises elements for East Sussex County Council, East Sussex Fire Authority, Sussex Police Authority as well as Eastbourne Borough Council.

Read on to discover the total charge for bands A to H …

The bands and amounts are as follows:

• A – £1,004.22
• B – £1,171.59
• C – £1,228.96
• D – £1,506.33
• E – £1,841.07
• F – £2,175.81
• G – £2,510.55
• H – £3,012.66

…As You May Be In For a (Nice) Surprise!

I first reported on the fraudulent charges Southern Water were billing Sovereign Harbour residents inmy post Money Down the Drain way back in April 2006!
The sterling work that Ray Battersby started and the SHRA’s Waterlines newsletter reported on meant that all Eastbourne Marina residents were supposed to get an automatic refund without having to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole.

But this has taken some time.

So, imagine my surprise when I opened my bill the other day only to discover a line on the statement saying ‘refund’, though it didn’t offer an explaination.

Check your bills carefully, you may have been refunded too

The bulk of these developments are in the marina area and developers compete with one another to sell the merits of their individual schemes.

There are a number of property sub-sectors within Sovereign Harbour including:

• Owner Occupiers – Families
• Owner Occupiers – Empty Nesters/Early Retired
• Owner Occupiers – Retired
• Owner Occupiers – Second Home Owners
• Owner Occupiers – Young Professionals
• Rentals – Shared Housing
• Rentals – Young Professionals
• Rentals – Families
• Rentals – Social Housing Schemes
• Investors – Buy to Let
• Speculators – Buy to Sell for a (Quick) Profit

Over the coming months I will be posting information about each of these identifying which areas of the marina are most suitable for each sub-sector and the pros and cons of each.

So please either bookmark this blog or sign-up for the rss feed (see the ’syndicate’ options to the right) to ensure you don’t miss my local insights.

The following article first appeared in Issue 11 of Waterlines (April 2006) and describes the route that Harbour resident Ray Battersby has taken to chase Southern Water to refund the charges they are making for a service they aren’t providing – rainwater drainage.

Read on to discover what he recommends you do to get your money back.

Ray writes:

If a company charges for a service not supplied, it’s embezzlement and you’re entitled to a refund. If you’re paying Southern Water (SW) for surface water drainage – a service not provided within Sovereign Harbour – you are entitled only to a refund for the overcharges made since the previous 1st April.

After being alerted to these fraudulent charges, I called SW and subsequently returned their claim form. SW agreed to rebate from April 2003 but having been overcharged since May 2000, I again claimed a rebate for the earlier years.

SW said “…the Director General of Water Services (OFWAT) has specifically confirmed that rebates are not to be retrospective… In accordance with the regulator’s requirements, rebates are effective from the beginning of the charging year (1st APRIL) in which the customer first indicates their wish to claim.” (which OFWAT later confirmed).

In the topsy-turvy world of public utilities, it’s the customer’s responsibility to know the services received. And since April 2000, when OFWAT introduced rebates, it’s been perfectly legal for SW to charge Sovereign Harbour residents for a service they knowingly haven’t provided. And they only need to offer a rebate for the current charging year – and only on customer request.

Under these crazy OFWAT rules, there’s no incentive for SW to make change; they happily continue to invoice- hundreds of unsuspecting Sovereign Harbour residents for a non-existent service and rely on the Caveat Emptor shield {let the buyer beware). The longer this situation continues, the more profits SW accrue.

Make your Point: Make your Claim

1. Request a Rebate Request Form on 0845 273 0845, or write to:
The Team Manager – Customer Services
Southern Water
P.O. Box 41, Worthing
West Sussex BN13 3NZ

2. Return the completed form to SW. I stated on my form:
“Sovereign Harbour has been built as a soakaway area. The surface water drains naturally and does
not drain into the sewerage system, You should not be charging me for its removal.
“I claim a rebate for thecharges you have made (and that I have paid) since ________”

3. You should receive a letter confirming your rebate entitlement.

4. You can also contact OFWAT and The Daily Mail, who watch the Water Companies’ excessive profits:

Information Services Officer
Office of Water Services (OFWAT)
Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham B5 4UA
Tel: 0121 625 3642
Email: enquiries@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk

Sean Poulter – Consumer Affairs Correspondent
The Daily Mail
Northcliffe House
2 Derry Street
London W8 5TT
Tel: 02079386000
Email: s.poulter@dailymail.co.uk

Ask OFWAT why it doesn’t…

1. … insist that water companies invoice customers
only for the services provided?
2. … require the water companies to rebate all
overcharges?
3. … require comprehensive customer records?

Questions for SW:

1. Do SW ever exceed their OFWAT obligations?
2. How many customers are SW charging for a
service they don’t receive?
3. Why doesn’t SW keep accurate customer records
including the services provided?
4. How much has SW profited over the years due to
this loophole

Thanks to Ray and Waterlines. I’ll keep you informed on this blog any progress I make trying to reclaim my charges.

This post isn’t intended to put you off buying a property in Eastbourne’s Sovereign Harbour developments, but as the saying goes ignorance is no excuse and I always think it’s better to have all the facts up front, rather than a nasty surprise later.

There are a lot of leasehold apartments in the marina, and you would expect to have the usual range of management agent-type expenses to cover ground rent, buildings and public liability insurance, maintenance of the communal grounds and common areas, lift maintenance, building maintenance as well as the overhead commissions of the agents themselves.

Council Tax never seems to go down, and as at the time of writing the value for this seems very poor as a lot of the services you’d expect from the Council, they don’t always provide as many roads and developments haven’t been fully adopted (though this is gradually changing). Instead you have to contact the developer rather than the Council to provide for you.

Utilities are the same as everywhere else, except that it is worth noting that Southern Water have been charging marina households for ‘Surface Water Drainage’ (only about £20 a year) but modern houses (i.e. all marina properties) use a soak-a-way, so this charge is nothing short of fraudulent – being charged for something that you don’t actually use, and the onus is on the householder to prove the case (and not the builder or the water authority who should know better as they are the ones with the qualifications in design and engineering)!

Marina living is obviously a privilege, and for this reason we have to pay an ‘Estate Rent Charge’ to Sovereign Harbour Trust – this includes an amount that should be paid to the Environment Agency as a contribution for Sea Defences for the beach front of the marina – something that the rest of Eastbourne residents don’t have to pay for the promenade.

I’ll leave you to read up on the various transparency issues relating to the Sovereign Harbour Trust on the residents’ association website.

Freehold Homeowners aren’t exempt from charges to communal areas either. Shared green areas (I know these are few and far between) need watering and bushes need trimming. Electric gates need oiling and electricity. All of which adds up and result in a twice-yearly invoice that needs paying.

Finally, if you buy a property in South Harbour near to the prestigous ‘water feature’ then all I can say is good luck! Friends that live there never seem to get a consistent working feature, and as a result the not insignificant annual charges still have to be paid into a slush (aptly named) fund as and when it is eventually transferred from the developer to the residents’ management company.

Phew! I think that’s it. As I hear of other developments and actual costs I’ll make other posts to keep would-be-residents and investors up to date.

Jon